Last Updated: February 2026 | Data sourced from BLS, Glassdoor, Salary.com, AirlinePilotCentral, and ZipRecruiter.
How Much Do Pilots Make in Georgia?
The average pilot salary in Georgia in 2026 ranges from $143,000 to $167,000 per year depending on the source and how the numbers are sliced — but that average tells only a small part of the story. Pilots based in Atlanta, which is home to Delta Air Lines’ global headquarters and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport by passenger volume, earn considerably more when you factor in rank, seniority, and carrier.
A Delta captain flying wide-body international routes out of ATL can clear $460,000 or more in total compensation. A first-year regional first officer at Endeavor Air’s Atlanta base brings in a more modest but still solid figure. And everything in between — Southwest, charter, corporate, and cargo pilots — fills out a salary spectrum that makes Georgia one of the more attractive states for an aviation career.
This guide breaks it all down by rank, airline, and experience level, with real numbers from verified sources.
Why Georgia Is One of the Top States for Pilot Pay?
Here’s the thing most people don’t realize: Georgia consistently ranks among the highest-paying states for airline pilots in the country. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled in January 2026, Georgia sits in the top five states nationally for average airline pilot compensation, alongside Washington, California, Michigan, and Kentucky.
The reason isn’t complicated. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) handles over 100 million passengers annually and serves as the primary hub for Delta Air Lines — which is widely considered the highest-paying major commercial airline in the United States. When Delta’s pay scale is anchored in your state, the entire aviation salary ecosystem around it gets pulled upward.
Add to that the presence of Southwest Airlines at ATL, a growing charter and corporate aviation sector concentrated around the Peachtree Dekalb and Fulton County airports, Endeavor Air’s regional hub, and you have a layered market that employs pilots at every level of experience and pay.
Pilot Salary in Georgia by Experience Level (2026)
Before breaking things down by airline, it helps to understand how salary data platforms aggregate these numbers, because the variation between sources is significant.
Salary.com places the average airline pilot salary in Georgia at $164,701 per year as of October 2025, with a range spanning from approximately $138,000 (25th percentile) to $200,000 (75th percentile). In Atlanta specifically, that figure climbs to $167,201 — not dramatically different from the state average, which makes sense given how dominant Atlanta is in the state’s aviation employment picture.
Glassdoor’s Atlanta-specific data tells a similar story. Based on 147 anonymously submitted salaries, the platform reports an average airline pilot salary of $181,725 per year in Atlanta, with typical pay ranging from $136,294 to $254,416. Top earners at the 90th percentile reported up to $332,558 — almost entirely reflecting senior Delta captains.
Indeed reports a statewide average of $143,715 based on job postings, which reflects the broader mix of regional, charter, and corporate pilots pulling the state average down from what major airline pilots earn.
The honest read across all three: most airline pilots working out of Georgia earn somewhere between $140,000 and $200,000 on average when you blend ranks and carrier types. At the upper end — senior Delta captains on international wide-body routes — total compensation climbs well above that.
Delta Air Lines Pilot Salary in Georgia (2026)
Delta’s headquarters in Atlanta makes it the defining employer for the Georgia pilot market, and its pay scale is what most people are really asking about when they search for pilot salaries here.
Delta’s pilot compensation is negotiated through a Pilot Working Agreement (PWA) with ALPA — the Air Line Pilots Association — with the current contract amendable in late 2026 and Section 6 renegotiations slated to begin in early 2026. The pay structure is hourly, based on the aircraft type flown and years of service, with pilots guaranteed a minimum of 75 credit hours per month.
Delta First Officer Salary
Delta first officers start with a strong six-figure base from day one. Based on current publicly available pay scale data:
| Experience | Estimated Annual Pay |
|---|---|
| Year 1 First Officer | ~$109,000–$120,000 |
| Year 5 First Officer | ~$205,000–$210,000 |
| Year 10 First Officer (wide-body) | ~$222,000–$227,000 |
Entry-level Delta FOs typically begin on narrow-body fleets — the Airbus A220, A320, or Boeing 737 — before transitioning to wide-body aircraft like the A350 or 767 with seniority, which carries higher hourly rates.
Delta Captain Salary
This is where Georgia pilot salaries genuinely become exceptional. Delta captain pay depends heavily on aircraft type, with wide-body international captains sitting at the top of the scale.
| Role | Estimated Annual Base Pay |
|---|---|
| Narrow-body Captain (Year 6) | ~$321,000–$340,000 |
| Wide-body Captain (A350, 767) | ~$405,000–$460,000 |
| Senior Captain (all-in with profit sharing) | $500,000+ |
The average total compensation across all Delta pilots — blending first officers, narrow-body captains, and wide-body captains — is broadly cited at around $388,000 per year in 2026, though that number reflects a wide internal distribution. A year-one FO and a 20-year 777 captain both contribute to that average from very different sides of the spectrum.
Beyond base pay, Delta pilots benefit from a 401(k) match, one of the richest profit-sharing programs in U.S. aviation, travel privileges, and health benefits that add meaningfully to total compensation.
Southwest Airlines Pilot Salary at ATL
Southwest operates a significant number of daily departures from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, and its pilots represent another major segment of Georgia’s airline workforce. Southwest’s average pilot pay in 2026 is approximately $347,000 per year, making it the second-highest paying major U.S. airline behind Delta.
Southwest flies an all-Boeing 737 fleet, which simplifies its pay structure — all captains are flying the same aircraft type, so seniority is the primary differentiator rather than fleet assignment. Southwest captains operating out of Atlanta benefit from the same national pay scale, with senior captains earning well above $300,000 and some top earners reportedly exceeding $500,000 when overtime and profit-sharing are included.
Endeavor Air Pilot Salary (Delta’s Atlanta Regional)
Endeavor Air is Delta’s wholly owned regional carrier and operates one of its six pilot bases at Atlanta. For pilots early in their careers, Endeavor ATL is the most direct path to the Delta mainline — it’s the only regional carrier with a guaranteed, contractual flow-through agreement to Delta Air Lines.
Effective October 1, 2025, Endeavor’s first-year first officer hourly rate of pay is $105.08, which on a guaranteed 75-hour month works out to roughly $94,500 per year in base pay — a substantial improvement from where regional first officer pay was just four years ago.
Glassdoor estimates for Endeavor Air pilots at the Atlanta base put the average at approximately $187,862 annually, reflecting a blend of more senior first officers and captains who have accumulated years with the carrier. The typical pay range runs from about $141,000 at the 25th percentile to $263,000 at the 75th percentile.
Endeavor also provides ATP-CTP sponsored training for qualified candidates and a $10,000 training completion bonus — perks that reduce the financial barrier to entry for pilots building toward a Delta career.
Corporate and Charter Pilot Salaries in Georgia
Atlanta’s economy — home to major Fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS, and Delta itself — generates a significant demand for corporate aviation. Business jet pilots flying Gulfstreams, Bombardier Challengers, and Citations for private flight departments or Part 135 charter operators occupy a different pay structure than airline pilots.
Corporate captains in the Atlanta area typically earn between $120,000 and $200,000 per year, depending on the aircraft type, the employer’s size, and the pilot’s experience. Fractional ownership operators like NetJets, Flexjet, and Wheels Up also employ pilots out of Georgia, with captain salaries generally falling in the $130,000–$190,000 range.
The tradeoff versus airline flying involves schedule: corporate pilots often have less predictable duty days but potentially better quality of life depending on the department. Some high-end corporate flight departments rival regional airline pay, and a few exceed it.
Factors That Affect Your Pilot Salary in Georgia
Understanding where you fall on the pay spectrum comes down to a handful of variables that are worth laying out clearly.
Aircraft type is the single biggest factor at major airlines. A Delta captain flying the A350 on international routes earns a higher hourly rate than one flying the A220 domestically — the pay scale reflects the complexity and responsibility of the operation.
Rank and seniority determine upgrade timelines and base assignment. Getting a seat at Atlanta specifically depends on where you fall on the seniority list; junior pilots at major carriers are often based at domiciles other than their preferred hub and commute.
Airline type creates the biggest earnings gap. The jump from a regional carrier like Endeavor to Delta mainline can mean a pay cut in the first year (since you start over at Year 1 on the major’s scale) but accelerates dramatically within 2–3 years as the major’s pay scale is so much steeper.
Flight hours and overtime matter because pilots are paid by the credit hour, not by salary. Those who pick up additional trips or fly premium international routes in certain months can significantly exceed their guaranteed monthly base.
Georgia Pilot Salary vs. Other States
To understand what Georgia offers relative to the broader market, here’s how it stacks up against the states already covered in this series:
| State | Average Airline Pilot Salary (Salary.com) |
|---|---|
| California | $188,301 |
| New York | ~$185,000+ |
| Georgia | $164,701 |
| Florida | $161,501 |
| Texas | $163,000–$168,000 |
Georgia lands in the middle of the pack by average — but that figure understates the opportunity at the top. No state has a single employer offering the combination of pay scale, fleet size, and career runway that Delta Air Lines provides from Atlanta. For pilots targeting the absolute ceiling of what U.S. commercial aviation pays, Georgia is the destination.
The cost-of-living picture also helps. Atlanta’s housing market and cost of living are significantly lower than New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, meaning that a Delta captain’s $400,000+ salary goes considerably further in Marietta or Alpharetta than it would in Manhattan.
Is Georgia a Good State for a Pilot Career in 2026?
Without qualification, yes — if your goal is an airline career at the highest earning potential, Georgia is one of the best states in the country to be based in. Hartsfield-Jackson’s scale, Delta’s pay structure, and the pipeline that Endeavor Air provides create a career pathway that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the same form.
For pilots just starting out, the Endeavor-to-Delta flow is arguably the clearest institutional pathway from regional to major in U.S. aviation. For experienced pilots at mid-career, Delta’s seniority-based upgrade system means those who get in and stay in can reasonably expect captain salaries that outpace virtually every other commercial employer.
The structural demand driving all of this isn’t going away soon. Delta alone has hundreds of narrowbody and widebody aircraft on order for delivery through the late 2020s, including A321neo, A330neo, A350-1000, and 737 MAX variants. Fleet growth plus mandatory retirements at 65 means sustained hiring through the decade.
Final Thoughts
Georgia pilot salaries in 2026 span from entry-level regional first officer pay in the low six figures to senior Delta captain packages that exceed half a million dollars annually. The average sits around $164,000–$182,000 depending on which data source you use, but the real story is at the top of the distribution — and that top is higher here than almost anywhere else in the country.
If you’re evaluating where to build an airline career, Atlanta and the Delta ecosystem make a compelling case that goes beyond the salary numbers alone.
Looking for more pilot salary data? See our guides on Pilot Salary in New York, Pilot Salary in Florida, Pilot Salary in Texas, and Pilot Salary in California for a complete state-by-state comparison.
